2017 LEGO Elves sets & new story review

LEGO recently released five new LEGO Elves sets, corresponding with Part 3 of the LEGO Elves webisodes. This time, Emily Jones is joined by her little sister, Sophie Jones. And just like all annoying little sisters, Sophie follows her big sis around, ends up in places she not supposed to be, and gets into lots of trouble. In other words, typical siblings stuff, sparkled with the magic of the elves. 🙂

While the LEGO Elves sets can be enjoyed just for their beauty, creativity, and unique elements, it is worth looking at the story as well, to understand what each of the new sets represents. In the playlist below, I have included for you the LEGO Elves: The Capture of Sophie Jones trailer and all of the webisodes released so far. If you are just casually interested in the story, watching the trailer should be enough. And if you want to learn everything about the new characters and adventures, you can also watch all of the episodes.

If you have been following the LEGO Elves story up to this point, you know that Emily Jones inherited a magical amulet from her grandmother, which gives her access to a portal to Elvendale. However, it is not just all of fun and games at the land of magic. Emily has been assisting the elves in a number of ways, dealing with evil forces, runaway dragons, and now, goblins. Emily also inherited the responsibility of protecting the portal from intruders, and of the peaceful coexistence of elves and humans. Then, one day, her little sister sneaks in through the portal, creating much trouble for herself, her sister, and the elves. And that’s where we are now in the story. Below are the five new sets, as well as video-reviews on each of them.

➡ #41181 LEGO ELVES NAIDA’S GONDOLA & THE GOBLIN THIEF: This is the smallest set in the 2017 LEGO Elves line. It includes a lovely little gondola, Naida wearing a new outfit, a goblin, and a little landscape. It’s nice to see that the gondola has the same color-scheme and style as the #41073 LEGO Elves Naida’s Epic Adventure Ship. Here is the official description: Join the exciting new adventures in Elvendale with Naida the water elf as she goes in search of rare ingredients and crystals in the unexplored goblin forest. Ride the river in her gondola with a seat, basket with crystals, map and a compass. Defend the crystals from Roblin the Goblin on the island with its spyglass, evil instructions and hidden catapult with evil seeds. Includes a Naida mini-doll figure and Roblin the Goblin figure. 67 pieces. Price: $9.99 – BUY HERE

➡ #41182 LEGO ELVES THE CAPTURE OF SOPHIE JONES: This set includes pretty much everything related to Sophie Jones; the portal she sneaked through, her interactions with the squirrel store owner Mr. Spry, and her eventual capture by the goblins. While I love the set for all of the lovely colors and accessories, and I do like Sophie Jones, I find it disappointing that LEGO decided to use a regular mini-doll to represent her. She is clearly much younger and shorter in the film. than her big sister. This was a missed opportunity by LEGO to make shorter mini-dolls representing younger siblings. Here is the official description: Join the exciting new adventures in Elvendale with Sophie Jones, as she sneaks through the magic portal and visits Mr. Spry’s grocery store. This set features a store with price list, groceries, a bed on the second level, as well as a hidden magic portal and a goblin capture-mobile with a lowering net. Includes a Sophie Jones mini-doll figure, plus Barblin the Goblin and Mr. Spry the squirrel figures. 226 pieces. Price: $19.99 – BUY HERE

➡ #41183 LEGO ELVES THE GOBLIN KING’S EVIL DRAGON: The stars of the 2016 LEGO Elves sets were definitely the dragons. While this year the focus is on goblins, LEGO managed to sneak in another beautiful dragon as well. This dragon is a lighter shade of green than the earth dragon in the previously released #41176 LEGO Elves the Secret Market Place set, and is also tinged with a bit of black to represent evil influence. If you watched the episodes you know that both the dragon’s and the Goblin king’s story are quite sad, and I hope that eventually they will be able to get back to their normal selves. Right now, however, they are super bad, bent on taking over the world of both the elves and humans. Here is the official description: Join the exciting new adventures in Elvendale with Cronan Darkroot the Goblin King as he goes in search of crystals to power his evil portal. Fly on the back of Ashwing, with a cage for crystals, and posable wings with gripping claws, plus a crystal cave with hiding place for Lil’ Blu and an explosion function to reveal a crystal. Includes a Goblin King mini-doll figure, plus Ashwing the earth dragon, Jimblin the Goblin, Blubeary and Lil’ Blu. 339 pieces. Price: $29.99 – BUY HERE

➡ #41184 LEGO ELVES AIRA’S AIRSHIP & THE AMULET CHASE: This set is also similar in style to the #41073 LEGO Elves Naida’s Epic Adventure Ship, and could easily be converted into a traditional ship, if you like. And it is also reminiscent of the #70603 LEGO Ninjago Raid Zeppelin with the use of the hot air balloon pieces. Just look at all those gorgeous curvy gold pieces! This set is a goldmine of interesting parts! Here is the official description: Join the exciting new adventures in Elvendale as Emily Jones and Aira Windwhistler the wind elf search for Emily’s stolen amulet and her sister, Sophie Jones. Fly in Aira’s airship, with spinning propeller, space for two mini-doll figures, extending wings and a crossbow, and avoid Dukelin the Goblin on the goblin glider with movable wings, evil seed shooters and opening hatch with small storage space. Includes two mini-doll figures: Emily Jones and Aira the wind elf, plus Dukelin the Goblin. 343 pieces. Price: $39.99 – BUY HERE

➡ #41185 LEGO ELVES MAGIC RESCUE FROM THE GOBLIN VILLAGE:This set looks like a page from a storybook! So many lovely details, colors and accessories! It includes three little goblin houses, each on a separate base, so you can set up your goblin village in whichever way you like. This is one of my most favorite LEGO Elves sets to date. There is so much potential for expanding the scene for a whole goblin village diorama! Here is the official description: Take part in exciting new Elvendale adventures in the Goblin Village, featuring three buildings loaded with accessories, including a crystal workshop with magnifying glass and rotating crystal platform, cage-making workshop with lookout perch and dungeon with exploding gate function, activated by pulling down on the plant. Includes two mini-doll figures: Azari and Farran, plus three goblin figures: Bieblin, Fibblin and Smilin, and Panthara the Panther and Hidee the Chameleon figures. 637 pieces. Price: $59.99 – BUY HERE

The LEGO Elves theme consistently produced some of the most gorgeous sets LEGO ever released, with an enchanting story-line, lovely characters, beautiful colors, and interesting pieces. The sets are also in an affordable price-range with a good price-per-piece ratio. I highly recommend checking them out. You can find both the current sets and some of the older ones under the LEGO Elves section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Elves collection? And what do you think of the new sets? Feel free to share your thoughts and own review in the comment section below! 😉

The story is not as well developed as Ninjago, but the sets are amazing. So many interesting parts, and beautiful colors. In this wave I like the Village the most. That spring green, or whatever it is called, is a very unique color.

I was also wondering about Sophie’s height. She is clearly much shorter in the animation. They could have introduced a younger/shorter mini-doll with her, or just give her a special mould, like they have done with the goblins. Or, just make her taller/older in the movie!

The dragons in the Elves sets are so much better than then ones in Ninjago. The original Ninjago dragons were great, but since they switched over to brickbuilt heads many of them look weird. I don’t know why they didn’t continue with the original design.

That’s an interesting point. I remember reading somewhere that the reason LEGO switched over to brick-built heads for the Ninjago dragons was because fans complained and said that they don’t want special moulds. Some of the brick-built dragon heads are done very well, while others do look weird. In general I also prefer the moulded head pieces as they tend to look nicer. But I also understand why others prefer the brick-built versions. The Elves dragons have a nice balance between moulded heads and brick-built bodies.

I love the colors and I am very tempted, I might just get a couple ( we know how that goes, a couple now the rest later.) I get tired of the basic color bricks and it’s good for change from time to time.

The story is definitely simpler, but it is meant for younger kids, so I think for them it’s a good match. And the artwork on the boxes and in the comics is so pretty! I personally very much like the characters and I love their beautiful outfits and hairpieces. I’m contemplating on building an elven army with them, especially now that we have the gorgeously armored Goblin King. But of course we all have our likes and dislikes, and that’s perfectly fine. 🙂

Yeah, someone just pointed out to me this morning at the TBB Facebook Page that the hands are now minifig claws rather than regular human hands like in the previous episodes. I haven’t even noticed that! 😀

I don’t like the animation for these videos as much as the previous version. The characters’ movements are so choppy, and making them look more like actual mini-dolls doesn’t really look too great. It also makes the elves look like their “kid” versions from last year’s videos, which is weird and makes no sense. The style in the first picture of the article is what I like – it’s more realistic (though the goblins don’t look as funny). But the storyline itself is not bad, and learning about Ashwing really makes me want the Goblin King’s Evil Dragon (41183). Speaking of the actual sets, I think they’re all pretty good; there’s plenty of excellent parts and colors. 🙂
Also, off-topic: I did go to the LEGO Store last Saturday, and bought the Mercedes-AMG GT3 75877 and Mighty Dinosaurs. I had the Ninjago Accessory Pack in my hand, but decided not to get it (no idea why). I really like the GT3, much more than the Dinosaur, but they were both worthy purchases. The PAB wall was horrible, though… those Pick-a-Models take up so much space when the Wall is small. 😕

My understanding is that the animation was changed because people were complaining they characters didn’t look like the mini-dolls. I guess you can’t please everyone. But I also like the original artwork better. I put that first picture there because I think it’s gorgeous. Would love to get it as a poster or something! 😀

The GT3 is a really gorgeous car that looks good from pretty much every angle. And I really like the colors too. The dinosaur is a great set too, but in a different way. Do you have the Creator turquoise robot (#31062)? I got that set recently and I’m very happy with it. Did you have a chance to see if the ice-cream cones in the Ninjago Pack are black or pearl-dark-gray? Jang says they were black, so I changed the text back in the post, but I still don’t have it myself.

The thing with Friends and Elves animation is that it’s always resembled real-life more than LEGO (unlike Ninjago, Chima, and Nexo Knights, which mix the two), and the sets are just LEGO versions of those realistic things – like Disney Princess or Star Wars. While for a LEGO show I prefer the style of minifig-like characters over the realistic style of Friends, the Elves characters don’t look good as mini-doll-based characters, in my opinion.
If the animation was changed due to complaints, it’s interesting that the Elves box art wasn’t changed to match the show, and as far as I know nothing has changed for Friends, which surprises me because Friends has been around far longer than Elves, and nobody complained about the animation then (that I’m aware of).
Yeah, the GT3 is awesome… I almost like it better than my Corvette Z06 from last year. The spoiler does it, I think; without it, the car looks too much like a normal Mercedes, which is rather boring.
I’m so annoyed because I completely forgot to see what color the ice-cream cones were. I told myself I’d check, but the panic of trying to decide what to buy drove it fully from my mind. However I’m pretty sure they’re black; I trust Jang’s vision, and also if you look at the alternate images on Brickset, they definitely look Black. 🙂

Friends actually have two version of animation. In the main shows they look like humans with fingered hands, and in some of the smaller episodes and in the comics they look like mini-dolls with claws. Maybe they are still deciding which way to go.

I also trust Jang, however I thought maybe there is two versions of the set, and some comes with black cones, while the others with the pearl-dark-gray. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened. 🙂

Huh, okay, didn’t know that about Friends. But then I try to avoid the Friends videos as the show tends to make me feel sick. 😕
Perhaps there are two versions of the Accessory Pack, although in every review and picture I’ve seen of it the ice-cream cones are black. They only look slightly Titanium Metallic (which is the official name of pearl-dark-grey) in the main image of the set, nowhere else, and even there you can see they match Ash’s hands, which are clearly black. I guess you can confirm the color once you’ve got it.

I’m eyeing the new Elves sets myself. My daughter and I both got the airship thing because we liked the hot air balloon set. The village is tempting to me but I will probably let it go. I may get the capture of Sophie Jones myself though. That’s not too pricey and it’s got some interesting elements. My daughter’s birthday is in April so I’m sure we’ll be doing some shopping once April promos kick in.

Yeah, that’s the Robo Explorer. We were just talking about it, as BLPorductions mentioned getting the Creator Dino set. So yeah, just kind off went off the Elves trail. 🙂

The Capture of Sophie Jones is a sweet set with a good mix of minifigs, parts, and play-features. I especially like the purple leaves, the peanut butter jar and printed acorn 1×1 plates, all the gold ice-cream swirls, and the portal piece. Oh, and of course Sophie, the goblin and Mr. Spry. 😀

Is it just me or , are the Elves sets getting better each year. I only have a few Elves sets ( 3 of the Dragon sets and the Bakery set. I missed a lot. ) I guess it’s better late than never . Definitely getting this years sets. Also, it seems like that the next wave of new sets( of various themes) are scheduled to come out in June . At least that’s what I heard.

We are only missing the goblin village and the air ship. We get every set so far being sold on The Lego website. My kids love the dragons and their babies. and my kids think the goblins are adorable. Love the earthly look and style of the sets, the colours are very vibrant. I find the friends fine, the best part of the friends sets are the jungle and nature themes, the rest meh. The animals are way cool. Hope to see more expansion of the Elves, maybe a Elves Lego Dimension Game play Hint, Hint, Wink Wink Wink. would be cool to have Batman ride on the Lego elves Dragons in the Lego Dimensions.